British Airways has lost a legal battle against the Airways Pension Scheme involving the trustees’ decision to introduce a 0.2 per cent discretionary increase, as experts have stressed the importance of carefully documenting all decision-making processes.

Rosalind Connor commented that the case “underlines how difficult it is to get a court to overturn a trustee decision”.

She said that to do so, “you have to show not only that they’ve behaved improperly but that they’ve done it to such a serious extent that they’re in breach of trust, and that’s a very high bar to reach”.

Rosalind stated that the trustees’ minutes were key to the court’s decision:

“Time and again the judge decides that the evidence he finds most compelling is what is written down, particularly what is written in minutes.”

“Minutes sometimes are seen as not desperately relevant – well they are, and you need to get them right.”

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